Committee endorses plan to rename The Paseo for Martin Luther King

Kansas City's Planning and Zoning Committee has signed off on a plan to rename The Paseo to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard.

The name change will not be cheap. The city may have to spend up to $50,000 just to produce and install new street signs.

Rev. Scott Myers, pastor of Westport Presbyterian, testified before the committee that it was council's responsibility to honor the civil rights leader.

"I stand before you as a white faith leader, saying to you that it is your moral responsibility, and your democratic responsibility, to honor the wishes, and the dreams and the aspirations of the marginalized community," Myers said.

The Paseo runs 19 miles through the center of Kansas City. The city's first major boulevard was developed in the early 1900s under the direction of parks board president August Robert Meyer. It was modeled and named after Paseo de la Reforma in Mexico City.

The full City Council must still vote on the ordinance before the name change would take effect.